CHATHAM — Although the school year ended Friday for Chicago Public Schools, one teacher at Jane Neil Elementary School will continue fundraising on behalf of her students with disabilities.

Valerie Hardy, a science teacher at Neil, 8555 S. Michigan Ave., said she hoped to raise $3,000 to add to a $3,800 grant from Lowe's Toolbox for Education received earlier this year. The funds are earmarked for a school garden she hopes to have ready by September.

"This will be one busy summer for me. I have to get out here and beat the pavement trying to raise money," Hardy said. "All this is new for me because I have never had to raise this kind of money before. As of now my plan is to ask my co-workers, family and friends to make donations."

Hardy said nearly half of the 381 students at the school have special needs, such as wheelchairs, and those students have told her they would like to have a garden.

"This [garden] all got started from the students. We have students in wheelchairs, blind, deaf, you name it," she said. "That's when I agreed to spearhead this project. But I did not want to have a garden that handicapped students would not be able to enjoy. I want all of our students to be able to participate in the garden."